Asian elephants can resist their impulses and choose a more rational course of action, according to a study published September 9, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Sydney Hope of Hunter College, New York and colleagues.
Inhibitory control – the ability to resist an impulse in favor of more effective behavior – is an important part of decision-making and cognitive flexibility in humans and other animals. This feature has been demonstrated in various species of birds and mammals, often using a detour test in which subjects must ignore an obvious but ineffective path to a treat in favor of an indirect route. In this study, Hope and colleagues document the first such demonstration with elephants.
Sixteen Asian elephants were tested at the National Elephant Institute in Thailand. When presented with a transparent box with small holes through which they could see and smell fruit inside, the elephants consistently were able to resist the temptation to try to reach directly for the food and instead used an opening on the side of the box as they had been taught earlier. When the box was later rotated, the elephants at first succumbed to the impulse to reach for the previous position of the opening before quickly correcting their behavior. This adjustment was slower in older individuals, with one possible explanation being cognitive decline with age, although the researchers note that more study will be needed to confirm this.
Overall, these trials demonstrate the ability of elephants to resist impulsive but ineffective action in favor of indirect effective behaviors, even when it requires them to adjust a previously effective approach. The authors note that this inhibitory control might be a key part of elephants’ famed problem-solving and socializing skills. Understanding how elephants respond to barriers might also help with the development of more effective mitigation strategies to avoid human-elephant conflict.
The authors add: “We found that, when elephants were faced with a situation where they needed to suppress an impulsive behavior—either the impulse to reach directly toward a food reward behind a transparent and perforated barrier, or the impulse to continue using a previously (but no longer) effective technique—they were generally able to suppress the impulse. This ability may be important for elephants' social interactions or for other aspects of cognition, such as problem-solving.”
In your coverage, please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS One : https://plos.io/4d4YaZZ
Citation: Hope SF, Jacobson SL, Dittakul S, Schmitt G, Pla-ard M, Yindee M, et al. (2026) Asian elephants ( Elephas maximus ) demonstrate inhibitory control in a detour task. PLoS One 21(9): e0356549. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0356549
Author countries: USA, Thailand.
Funding: This research was funded in whole or in part by Templeton World Charity Foundation (funder DOI 501100011730, grant TWCF-2022-30066 to J.M.P.; https://doi.org/10.54224/30066) . This research was also supported by Hunter College through the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. G.S. received funding support from the Animal Behavior and Conservation Program at Hunter College. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
PLOS One
Experimental study
Animals
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) demonstrate inhibitory control in a detour task
9-Sep-2026
J.M.P. is the president of Think Elephants International, Inc., a charity dedicated to elephant conservation. The authors have no other competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.